HIV-coinfection leads to a modest increase in plasma HCV-RNA load in patients with chronic HCV infection

The influence of HIV coinfection on plasma hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA load has not been reliably evaluated. We analyzed plasma HCV RNA load in 396 HCV-monoinfected and 467 HIV/HCV-coinfected patients. Median HCV RNA concentrations (interquartile range) in HCV-monoinfected patients were 5.88 (5.3-6.2) log(10) IU/mL versus 5.96 (5.6-6.5) log(10) IU/mL in HIV/HCV-coinfected individuals (p = 0.033) as determined with the Cobas Amplicor Test and 6.06 (5.4-5.7) log(10) IU/mL versus 6.3 (5.5-6.9) log(10) IU/mL (p = 0.026) using the Cobas TaqMan System. The plasma HCV RNA load in patients with HIV infection and undetectable plasmatic HIV RNA was similar to that observed in HCV-monoinfected individuals [6.02 (5.45-6.61) log(10) IU/mL versus 6.01 (5.36-6.59) log(10) IU/mL, respectively (p = 1.0)]. In conclusion, HIV coinfection tends to be associated with higher plasma HCV RNA load, however, the magnitude of the differences is small and this effect can be counterbalanced with antiviral therapy. (c) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.